Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/108

 96 K I R _ K I R two are worn in summer and several in winter, fastened with a silk or leather girdle, in which are stuck a knife, tobacco pouch, seal, and a few other trinkets. Broad silk or cloth pantaloons are often worn over the chapan, which is of velvet, silk, cotton, or felt, according to the rank of the wearer. Large black or red leather boots, with round white felt pointed caps, complete the costume, which is much the same for both sexes. Like the Kara- Kirghiz, the Kazaks are nominally Sunnites, but Shamauists at heart, worshipping, besides the Kudai or good divinity, the Shaitan or bad spirit. Their faith is strong in the talchi or soothsayer and other charlatans, who know everything, can do everything, and heal all disorders at pleasure. But they are not fanatics, though holding the abstract doctrine that the &quot; Kafir&quot; may be lawfully oppressed, including in this category, not only Buddhists and Christians, but even Mohammedans of the Shiah sect. There are no fasts or ablutions, mosques or mollahs, or regular prayers. Although Mussulmans since the beginning of the 16th century, they have scarcely yet found their way to Mecca, their pilgrims visiting instead the more convenient shrines of the &quot;saints&quot; scattered over eastern Turkestan. Unlike the Mongolians, the Kazaks treat their dead with great respect, and the low steppe hills are often entirely covered with monuments raised above their graves. Letters are neglected to such an extent that whoever can merely write is regarded as a savant, while he becomes a prodigy of learn ing if able to read the Koran in the original. Yet the Kazaks are naturally both musical and poetical, and possess a considerable number of national songs, which are usually repeated with variations from mouth to mouth. The Kazaks still choose their own khans, who, though confirmed by the Russian Government, possess little authority beyond their respective tribes. The real rulers are the elders or umpires and sultans, all appointed by public election. Brigandage and the barantas or raids arising out of tribal feuds, which were formerly recognized institutions, are now severely punished, sometimes even with death. Capital punishment, usually by hanging or strangling, is inflicted for murder and adultery, while three, nine, or twenty- seven times the value of the stolen property is exacted for theft. The domestic animals, daily pursuits, and industries of the Kazaks differ but slightly from those of the Kara-Kirghiz. Some of the wealthy steppe nomads own as many as 20,000 of the large fat-tailed sheep. Goatsarekept chieflyas guides for theseflocks; and the horses, though small, are hardy, swift, light-footed, and capable of covering from 50 to 60 miles at a stretch. The total live-stock was thus estimated in 1872 by Tillo : camels, 120,000 ; horses, 1,720,000 ; oxen, 600,000 ; sheep, 2,000,000 ; goats, 180,000. Amongst the Kazaks there are a few workers in silver, copper, and iron, the chief arts besides being skin dressing, wool spinning and dyeing, carpet and felt weaving. Trade is confined mainly to an exchange of live stock for woven and other goods from Russia, China, and Turkestan. Since their subjection to Russia, the Kazaks have become less lawless, but scarcely less nomadic. A change of habit in this respect is opposed alike to their tastes and to the climatic and other outward conditions. Hence the progress of culture can here lead only to the depopulation of the steppe wherever incapable of being irrigated, and to the gradual extinction or absorption of the Kirghiz-Kazaks by their Slav rulers. Literature. Alexis Lcvshin, Description des Hordes et des Steppes des Kirghiz. Kataks, translated from the Russian by Ferry de Cigny, 1840; Kadloff, Proben dr.r Volksliteratur der Tiirkischen Stamme Siidsiberiens ; Ch. de Ujfalvy, Le Kohistan, le Ferghanah, et Kouldja ; also Bui. de la Soc. de Geo., 1878-79 ; Semenoff, paper in Petei mann s Mittheilungen, 1859, No. 3 ; Valikhanov s Travels in 1858-59; Madame de Ujfalvy, papers in Tour du Monde, 1874; Vambdry, Die pritnitive Callur des Turko-Tatarischen Voltes. (A. H. K.) KIRIN, GIRIX, or in Chinese CHWEN-CIIANG, the chief town of the province of Central Manchuria or Kirin, is situated at the foot of the Lau-Ye-Ling mountains, at the edge of a wide and well-wooded plain, and on the left bank of the Girin-ula or Sungari, there 300 yards in breadth. The situation is one of exceptional beauty ; but the streets are narrow and irregular. Tobacco is the principal article of trade, the kind grown in the province being greatly prized throughout the Chinese empire under the name of &quot; Manchu leaf.&quot; Formerly ginseng was also an important staple, but the supply from this quarter of the country has been exhausted. Outside of the town lies a plain &quot; thickly covered with open coffins containing the dead bodies of Chinese emigrants exposed for identification and removal by their friends ; if no claim is made during ten years the remains are buried on the spot.&quot; Kirin was chosen by the emperor Kanghi as a military post during the wars with the Eleuts ; and it owes its Chinese name of Chwen-chang, i.e., Naval Yard, to his building there the vessels for the transport of his troops. The population was estimated at 300,000 in 1812; at present it is about 120,000. See Palladius, &quot;Expedition through Manchuria,&quot; inJourn. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1872 ; Williamson, Journeys in North China. KIRKCALDY, a royal and parliamentary burgh and seaport on the south-east coast of Fifeshire, Scotland, 12 miles north from Edinburgh. The chief topographical feature of the town is its length, which is nearly 4 miles within the municipal boundary, as extended by Act of Parliament in 1876. Formerly there was little besides one main street with lanes and shorter streets branching from it, but during the last five-and-twenty years a large number of new streets and villas have been built along the high ground to the north. The parish, however, is a very small one, the landward part (now Abbotshall) having been disjoined in 1650. In population and most other statistical respects Kirkcaldy is the principal town in the county, and the tenth in Scotland, ranking next after Perth and Kilmarnock. The valuation of the burgh in 1881, includ ing railways, was 87,622, and the census of the same year showed a population of 23,632. Besides some importations of flax, timber, whiting, &c., the chief regular trade of the port is that carried on by means of coasting vessels with Leith, Glasgow, and London. The annual harbour revenue is about 2000, and that of the custom house 52,000. The linen manufacture, begun in the early part of the 18th century, has long been the staple industry, the town being one of the chief centres of the trade in Scotland. The spinning of flax by machinery was introduced into the district in 1792, and in 1807 steam was added as a motive power. At present there are six mills with 18,830 spindles, employing when in full operation about 1450 persons. There is also an extensive net factory. Twelve power-loom factories, with an aggregate of 2100 looms, broad and narrow, employ fully that number of operatives. In these, as in the spinning mills, a large proportion of the workers, about 80 per cent., are females. Hand-loom weaving has almost entirely disappeared. The principal fabrics manufactured are sheetings, ticks, hollands, towel lings, diapers, dowlas, &c. ; and one or two firms are now making cotton goods to some extent. There are three bleaehtields, with 180 workpeople. Next in importance to the various branches of the linen manufacture are the floor-cloth works. First introduced by the late Mr Michael Nairn, the production of floor-cloth at Kirkcaldy has for some years been the largest in the world. There are six factories employing about 930 workpeople. The linoleum manufacture has also been successfully established. In 1877 the Messrs Nairn built the first factory in Scotland for this branch of industry, and its success has resulted in the formation of other two companies. The three firms employ an aggregate of nearly 450 hands. A large amount of machinery, including steam-engines, boilers, sugar-mills, rice-mills, and the like, is also manufactured in Kirkcaldy. There are eight works in operation, several of them extensive, and about 800 men and lads are employed. Among miscellaneous works may be noted two potteries (one of them including a tile-work with 400 operatives), malting barns, flour-mills, several dye-works, a brewery, and a large printing and lithographic business. The educational, ecclesiastical, and literary institutions of Kirkcaldy are numerous. There are seven public schools, with 3490 children on the roll, and nearly as many private and ladies schools, with about 350 in attendance. In addition there are three schools belonging to Philp s trust, at which 500 children receive gratuitous education and clothing ; the revenue of the trust for the purposes of these three schools was 2115 in 1880. There are